Day 27: Ekrawfo and the queen

Hi H2CWorld-dreamers!

Waking up in Ekrawfo was very exciting! The place is very pretty, in the middle of the nature and full of yummy fruit trees like Indian almonds which you eat the flesh and the nut!

Our day was very complete!

Early in the morning we went to visit Hakim Yamoah, an elderly man who lives next to the grandmother of Yorke. We talked about the project and asked him some questions. Which could be good initiatives in the community? He said, that the lack of running water and the power cuts where impeding the creation of new initiatives. This is quite true, as sometimes young people are immobilized by the lack of basic needs. He said that the best way to proceed was to talk to the Queen Mother of Ekrawfo as she is very experienced in educational projects with young people!

We went to the Primary School and talked to Miss Akonu (the headmistress of the school). She invited us to go and talk to the teachers so that they could advise us. They listened to our ideas and they gave us a lot of confidence regarding the gathering of young people. They told us that it would be best to talk to…the Queen!

Later we went to visit Yorke’s aunt (the sister of his father). She also talked about the young ones and also advised us to speak to the Queen!

Then we went to the traditional ceremony of the wedding of Yorke’s uncle. He was getting married to his second wife, and we were able to attend this intimate moment where families discuss the union of the bride and groom. Presents where given and it seemed like a very relaxed moment for most of the people! We got a drink and a tray for our home! Very useful for us as we don’t have much at home at the momentJ.

At the grandma’s house everyone was gathering for the next ceremony. We chatted with one uncle of Yorke who is also very into educational projects, and gave us a whole lot of advice concerning our project. We hope we can visit him in Accra as his experience can be very helpful. Suddenly there was a big commotion! It was Kueku Adam! A cousin who lives in the UK and came by surprise on holiday back to Ghana! He is very energetic and had a thousand ideas for our project and a thousand more for himself!

Later we went to the mosque to assist the Muslim ceremony. There Carmen had to wear a veil…as her panties where also showing, a woman came and rapped a skirt around her. As you may know, men and women a divided in the mosque so we had our own men/women experience. Later pictures were taken and the women sang around the bride! It was very nice to watch. At the wedding we met Mr Nazir (Yorke’s uncle)! We didn’t expect him, and it was nice to see him again.

Mr Nazir, Yorke’s uncle from Accra and Yorke went to talk to the Queen of Ekrawfo in our behalf, they asked her if we could come later to talk to her about H2CGhana in an informal way (this would mean without the whole protocol). We all went one hour later to her place, Adam, Ben Ato and a relative of the family (a young man who would like to help us out in our trial in Ekrawfo) also came along.

What an incredible woman the Queen is! Her name is Nana Esi Nisin, (Nana is a word given to chiefs and queens in Ghana). She was very eager to help us and she will be waiting for our call to tell her when we want to start! She also has a youth program in which young people learn to build handcrafts with bamboo. She works with international organizations and we think we will have the opportunity to know more about her interesting life!

Later in the evening we visited the aunties and great aunties of Yorke! They were very cheerful and funny. This was Yoke’s mother’s family house as we understood ;).

Finally we went to visit a chief of the village. It was luckily also very informal. Another uncle of Yorke was also there (who we briefly saw one of the first days in Accra), they both gave us advice on H2CGhana. What a huge family you have Yorke!

We ate delicious rice and let Yorke socialize with his family without having to translate to us everything ;). We went to sit on the roof of the family house and enjoyed the Ghanaian sky! Family members where arriving to the house to celebrate the second day of the wedding, among them, Sherif appeared!

#fieldstudy